Forrest & Karen's Place

THE NATIONAL PARKS: My Parks

2009-05-19T10:55:00.001-05:00

It's Been A While

2009-04-08T10:20:00.003-05:00

OK, I know I haven't posted anything on the blog in a while, but I have a facebook page now and I have been posting recent pictures and stuff there. It seems that I can't find time to post on the blog and facebook, so the blog has taken a backseat. But you can check out my facebook page if you want to see recent pictures, etc.:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1301545058&ref=profile

Another Grandchild!

2009-01-28T14:14:00.003-06:00

The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army

2009-01-27T10:17:00.008-06:00

Last Sunday was our 34th wedding anniversary. While we were looking for something interesting to do on our anniversary, I found out that The First Emperor exhibit was at the High Museum in Atlanta and we decided that would be an interesting thing to see. And it was very interesting. These terracotta soldiers are 2200 years old. They were discovered in 1974 Xian, China and they have been working to uncover them ever since. They estimate that there are about 8000 of them, but only about 1000 have been uncovered so far. If anyone is looking for something interesting to do, I would highly recommend this exhibit. It is at the high Museum until April 19, 2009.

This is where the terracotta army was found in China.....

and this is the exhibit at the museum.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-26T10:38:00.005-06:00

Today is the first day of the year of the ox. People born in the year of the ox are steady, plain and quiet. They arrange things systematically and they are patient and tireless. Because people born in the year of the ox are reliable and steady, they are trusted by their superiors or persons in authority. Where there is responsibility, you will always find them. However, they should be careful not to be carried away by success.

I hope everyone has a great year!

What's New?

2009-01-08T10:13:00.002-06:00

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything, I know, but we have been busy with the holidays. Our holiday was great and I hope yours was too. Another thing I have been busy with is getting ready to babysit our new granddaughter who will be arriving before we know it I'm sure. We are getting a room ready for her in our house so when she comes to visit she will have a place of her own. It is still a work in progress so I will wait to post pictures until everything is done.

It's a Girl!

2008-12-03T21:13:00.006-06:00

Andrew & Jen-Yu are having a girl!

Snakes & Snails or Sugar & Spice

2008-11-30T16:31:00.003-06:00

Construction Update

2008-11-19T10:58:00.009-06:00

On Sunday, Forrest, Andrew, Jen-Yu and I went to Jemison to check out the progress on my parents new house. As you can see, it is looking good and pretty soon they will be moving in.

This is the front of the house. There are no steps yet, so we have to climb up on a board.

This is the back. There will be a screened porch here.

This is my parents standing in their new living room.

They decided to finish off the attic space, so this gives them a lot of extra room.

What's Happening

2008-10-30T10:25:00.007-05:00

We have had lots of work going on at our house the last couple of weeks. We had to have all of the coating on the bricks stripped off and a new coating put on. It took 6 days of pressure washing to get the all of the old coating off. This is what the bricks look like with the coating stripped off:

-and this is what the new coating looks like:
Now they are starting to paint all of the trim and siding to match the new coating on the bricks. I will be glad when everything is finished.

On a sad note, we lost our 12 year old kitty, Byron, last week. He died from liver failure and we miss him very much.

Baby Things

2008-10-11T15:58:00.005-05:00

Since I am about to become a Grandmother for the first time, I have felt the need to make baby things. Since we don't know yet if the baby will be a girl or a boy, I have tried not to be too gender specific in the things I have made so far. My niece however is also pregnant and she already knows that she is having a boy, so some of these things will be going to that little fellow. The bibs are made from washcloths with a crocheted edging around them. The baby blankets are flannel with a crocheted edging around them.

Folk Festival

2008-09-22T11:05:00.009-05:00

Forrest and I spent the whole weekend at the Leeds Folk Festival. We were manning Andrew and Jen-Yu's booth since both of them had to work. Our tent had the space right in front of their building, so that made everything very convenient. All we had to do was bring everything out the door and set it up. There were lots of art and crafts booths, food, music and a farmer's market. Here are some pictures of the event including our tent and some of those attending:

We are going to be grandparents!

2008-09-18T11:00:00.005-05:00

That's right, we are going to be grandparents! Our son Andrew and his wife Jen-Yu are expecting a baby. It is due around the end of April or first of May. Everyone is really excited. Here is a picture from the doctor's appointment yesterday:

Construction

2008-09-15T11:10:00.006-05:00

My parents are building a house! Forrest, Andrew and I took a trip yesterday to check out the construction. Most of the framing is done and it is really starting to look like a house. My parents are going to be so much more comfortable in the new house and from the looks of things, it will not be too much longer until they move in. I can't wait to see the finished product.

'shrooms

2008-09-01T12:46:00.009-05:00

After all the rain last week, we have had an abundance of mushrooms popping up everywhere. Yesterday, I went out with my camera and made some photos of the 'shrooms. Here are some of them:

Rain, Rain and More Rain

2008-08-26T20:57:00.005-05:00

I have not written anything in a while, but there has not been much to tell. There is not much happening here except rain. Four whole days of rain so far. Tropical storm Fay has left us saturated, but I can't complain because we needed the rain. While it has been raining, I have started to make some crocheted Christmas ornaments. I always make some kind of ornaments to tie to my Christmas gifts every year and it looks like this is going to be it this year:

Happy Anniversary Daniel & Magen

2008-08-12T19:46:00.005-05:00

Today is Daniel & Magen's 2nd wedding anniversary, so happy anniversary to Daniel & Magen!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2008-08-09T13:22:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was Andrew's 29th Birthday. It is difficult to believe that it has been 29 years since the day he was born! We had a party with just the family and we cooked some food on the grill and had birthday cake and homemade ice cream. Here are a couple of photos of the fun:

Weekend Project

2008-07-26T18:39:00.003-05:00

Our project for this weekend is scrubbing, touching up and resealing our kitchen floor. We need to do this about once a year and we were overdue on the project this year. This was a good weekend to do it because Daniel and Magen have gone out of town to visit some of Magen's relatives so there are fewer people in the house that will need to be getting in the kitchen. We have finished the work and now all we have to do is let it dry. Hopefully, we will be able to keep Byron off the floor until it dries. He has already tried to get his little paws in there. Here are some pictures of Forrest at work:

Daniel & Magen Cook!

2008-07-18T12:46:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, Daniel and I went to Whole Foods and got the ingredients and Daniel and Magen cooked last night- a delicious fondue dinner. When Daniel and Magen were in France, they had fondue and loved it, so they have been promising to make it for us and last night was the night! Here are some photos of the fantastic fondue:

Aldridge Botanical Gardens

2008-07-13T20:05:00.005-05:00

Forrest & I were looking for somewhere different to walk so we decided to travel to Aldridge Botanical Gardens today (not much of a trip actually, since Aldridge Gardens is in Hoover which is where we live). It is beautiful there. They are well known for their hydrangeas which are past their peak blooming season, but many of them are still very pretty. Here are some photos of what we saw there:

New iPhone Software

2008-07-12T20:08:00.004-05:00

I don't have the new G3 iPhone, but I did get an iPhone last Christmas and I downloaded the new software for it that was made available yesterday. You can download applications to the iPhone now and there are lots of really great things that you can get and lots of them are free. I got one called Pandora Radio that allows you to basically create your own radio station that plays your favorite music whenever and wherever you want. Another one turns your iPhone into a remote control for itunes on your computer. I am still exploring the options available and having lots of fun doing it.

Holiday Weekend

2008-07-05T19:35:00.006-05:00

We had the kids over to eat on Friday and we took them to Alabama Adventure on Saturday, so it has been a busy weekend so far. Here are some photos:

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-03T23:25:00.002-05:00

New Look For The Blog

2008-07-01T17:36:00.002-05:00

Daniel has been teaching me today how to change the look of my blog. Now I have a custom background instead of just one of the templates that blogger lets you choose from. I worked on it, but I certainly can't take all of the credit because I would never have figured it out without Daniel's help. So, THANK YOU DANIEL!!!

A None Too Friendly Encounter

2008-06-30T10:17:00.005-05:00

Forrest and I went to visit my parents yesterday. They live out in the country, so we decided to take a walk in the woods. We took our camera and I was making a picture of a flower when I turned around and saw this guy. Now I don't know much about snakes, so I have no idea what kind of snake this is, but I do know that I do not like snakes. I turned around and went back the way I came and did not try to go past this guy. By the way, the whole snake is not in the picture. He was really long!

We Are Back From The Beach

2008-06-27T23:34:00.006-05:00

We are back from the beach and had a great time, but as always, it is good to be home. We visited Fort Morgan while we were at the beach and I wanted to share some of the photos that we made there. This place is old and rustic and had opportunities for some very interesting photos.

Greetings From Orange Beach!

2008-06-22T17:42:00.005-05:00

Still Playing With Photoshop

2008-06-18T19:00:00.003-05:00

Trying Something New

2008-06-18T11:04:00.005-05:00

I am trying putting together my pictures and text for my post in Photoshop and then downloading one thing to the blog. What do you think?

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T20:38:00.007-05:00

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, seen here with my Mom, my two brothers, and I in the late 1950's. Hope you had a great day Daddy.

And Happy Father's Day to the Father of my children. Here is Forrest with our children Daniel and Andrew:

Pond Cleaning Day

2008-06-15T17:56:00.007-05:00

Yesterday Forrest & I spent the entire day cleaning out our fish pond. We drained all the water and took out all the plants and the fish (we only have one now since the other fish committed suicide by jumping out of the pond). There was a lot of debris and mud to be removed. We now have clean water and the plants have been thinned out and look much better.

I think Mr. Fish looks like he is much happier now.

.... and my Gardenias are blooming! I love the scent of Gardenias. I wish I could send that scent to you as well as these pictures:

Backyard Shots

2008-06-01T11:02:00.009-05:00

I just thought I would post some of the photos that I made in our backyard yesterday:

Figs

Pears

Nectarines

Blackberries

and Tomatoes!

The Joys of Home Ownership

2008-05-31T11:30:00.004-05:00

Endless mowing...

... and repairs!

For Sale

2008-05-30T21:39:00.007-05:00

Forrest and Daniel are trying to sell the Buick. It's Daniel's car and since he is planning on going to France, he will not need a classic car to drive in the United States, and he needs the money to fund his ministry in France. So, if anybody out there knows anyone who would like to have a really nice 1968 Buick GS-400 let us know.

Forrest and Daniel have both put a lot of

work in this car.

Restoring Old Photos

2008-05-24T21:39:00.005-05:00

I have been working on restoring some old family photos, a couple of which you see above. The first one is a picture of my Grandmother, who was born in 1898. We think she is about 18 years old in the picture. The second one is a picture of my Dad probably made sometime around 1940. I have been learning to use Photoshop and it is amazing what it can do. The picture of my Dad was in especially bad shape with creases, spots, and very dark, but with Photoshop and a lot of patience it was greatly improved.

Happy 25th Birthday Daniel!

2008-05-06T08:11:00.004-05:00

Daniel's birthday was actually Saturday, but he and Magen were driving from Minneapolis, MN to Birmingham on Saturday, so there was no time for a birthday celebration and it was postponed until last night. Daniel wanted to eat at the Sumo Japanese Steakhouse so we did that and Andrew and Jen-Yu joined us. Afterward, we had birthday cake at our house. It is hard to believe that Daniel, my baby, my youngest, is 25 years old!

Great Smoky Mountains

2008-04-28T15:09:00.004-05:00

We are back from the Smoky Mountains and we had a great time. The spring wildflowers were blooming and everything was turning the bright green of spring. It was beautiful. We did some hiking and lots of photography. I created a slideshow in the left margin of some of the photos that we made. The picture of the bear is not very good, but I was not about to get too close to her because she had two cubs with her. As always, it was great to get away for a few days, but also great to be home again.

Antiques in the Garden

2008-04-21T09:45:00.002-05:00

We spent Friday and Saturday at Petals from the Past for their Antiques in the Garden event helping Andrew and Jen-Yu with their booth. It was very sunny (which was nice) and very windy (which was not nice). It was a lot of work keeping everything on the tables. At least the storm on Friday night was not too bad and there was no damage.

On another note, Forrest and I are going to the Smoky Mountains on Thursday. Very exciting! Forrest's birthday is tomorrow and he gets a day off work for his birthday, so he is going to take it on Friday so we will have a long weekend. We will leave Daniel and Magen in charge of the house while we are gone and then they will be going to Minnesota on Sunday for a week long church planting course in preparation for their work in France.

Happy Birthday Magen!

2008-04-14T10:29:00.004-05:00

Last night we had a little celebration for Magen's birthday with pizza and birthday cake. Magen's birthday was actually last Friday, but she and Daniel were at the beach so our celebration was delayed until yesterday. Andrew and Jen-Yu are going to have a booth at the Antiques in the Garden event at Petals From the Past in Jemison, AL on Friday and Saturday of this week. We are going to be helping them with that, so this week we are going to be busy getting everything ready. We will be setting up on Thursday and the event is from 9 AM to 5 PM on Friday and Saturday. It is lots of fun, so come if you can. Check out the Petals from the Past website if you need directions.

www.petalsfromthepast.com

Our Weekend

2008-03-31T10:20:00.008-05:00

We just finished a busy weekend. We had a birthday party for our daughter-in-law, Jen-Yu, yesterday. Most of the weekend was spent getting ready for that. Jen-Yu's birthday is actually Thursday, but she and Andrew work a lot at night and Andrew is working out of town most weekends, so yesterday was the best time for them to have the party since Andrew was working in town this weekend. We grilled shrimp and had cake and homemade ice cream. Jen-Yu wants to learn to sew, so Andrew got her a sewing machine for her birthday and we got her a lot of other things she will need for sewing. Here are some pictures from the party. As you can see, Forrest is the master of the grill.

My Most Recent Projects

2008-03-20T16:01:00.006-05:00

I almost always have some kind of project going. Right now it is journal covers and t-shirts. The t-shirts have a kind of reverse applique technique on them. The ones in the picture say "double happiness" and "dream" in chinese(I think). The journal covers use the same type of reverse applique technique with a few more embellishments on them.

Forrest's Office

2008-03-10T11:44:00.005-05:00

Forrest finally got his new office furniture at work. I should have taken before pictures because you cannot believe how bad this office looked when Forrest moved in. Forrest painted the office himself and then got new carpet. Now he finally has his office furniture. He just needs a few accessories and some pictures on the wall and he will be all set.

Happy Birthday Byron!

2008-03-03T09:46:00.003-06:00

Byron is our "Baby" and today is his 12th birthday. For those of you who don't know, Byron is our Himalayan cat. He has been with us since he was a baby and he could not be more spoiled. He never goes outside. He does not want to go outside. The house is his domain. I like to say that his little feet have never touched the ground, and you would believe it if you saw how much fur sticks out between his little toes and how clean it is. I have put together a little slide show of pictures of Byron from the time he was a baby in honor of his birthday. Enjoy!

What I am Reading

2008-02-25T15:49:00.009-06:00

I do not have as much time to read as I would really like to, as you would know if you saw the stack of books that I have that are waiting to be read. I recently finished reading "Rhett Butler's People" which prompted me to want to read "Gone With the Wind" again. It has been many years since I read "Gone With the Wind", so I wanted to read it again so I could see how the events in "Rhett Butler's People" lined up with those in "Gone With the Wind". Most of you have probably seen the movie, but the events in the movie barely scratch the surface of the events as told in the book, even though the movie is 4 hours long. I have just started, but so far in many cases the events barely mentioned in one book are told in greater detail in the other book, and some questions that there might have been about Rhett after reading "Gone With the Wind" are answered in "Rhett Butler's People".

Pictures of Taiwan

2008-02-20T19:47:00.002-06:00

I just spent the better part of an hour looking at the pictures that Andrew made on his recent trip to Taiwan. He must have shown us at least 1000 pictures and they were all fascinating. Andrew got to see a lot of things on this trip that we did not see on our trip to Taiwan last summer. He and Jen-Yu drove around the entire perimeter of the island and he had some really interesting pictures of the eastern coast where the mountains meet the Pacific Ocean. In a lot of places the coast is really rocky and there is no beach. He had a lot of great pictures of the doors of houses which were decorated for the Chinese New Year holiday. I am going to try to get him to make a book from those like the one we made with iPhoto. I may try to get some of his pictures from him so I can post them for you to see.

No More Empty Nest

2008-02-12T09:59:00.000-06:00

Daniel is back, with Magen of course. The lease on Daniel and Magen's apartment ran out, so they are going to be living with us until they go to France. They are not totally finished moving, but they have moved to the point that they are sleeping here now. Magen is getting everything in their space fixed very cute and she says she is going to post pictures on their blog as soon as she can, so you will have to check it out there when she gets it posted. Just click on the link on the left side of our page. Daniel says that he is much less messy since he has gotten married. Now we will see if that is really true!

Orchids

2008-02-08T09:42:00.001-06:00

My orchid is blooming! I am posting a photo of my orchid on the right. No one has ever accused me of having a green thumb, so I think my orchid just likes the spot it is sitting in. This is the second time that it has bloomed in the last year. I am so proud of it. Of course, my little orchid is nothing compared to the beautiful orchids that we saw when we were in Taiwan last summer. I am posting some photos of the orchids that we

saw in Taiwan so you can enjoy them too.

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

2008-02-06T11:55:00.000-06:00

For those of you who do not understand Mandarin Chinese (myself included) the title says "Happy New Year" and "Wishing You Prosperity" (I think). This year the Chinese New Year is on February 7 (it is already 2/7 in China and Taiwan). Since New Year's is the biggest holiday of the year for the Chinese and my daughter-in-law is from Taiwan, she and Andrew have gone to Taiwan for the holiday which they are spending with Jen-Yu's family. The date of the Chinese New Year is the second new moon after the winter solstice, so it is a different date each year. Each year is assigned one of 12 animals on a rotating basis. This is the beginning of the year of the rat. People born in the year of the rat are said to be charming and ambitious, short tempered and sometimes sneaky. If you would like to know more about the Chinese New Year holiday, check out the following website:

www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/culture/lunar-ny/

Here is a picture of us with Jen-Yu's family:

Restoration Project

2008-01-31T15:45:00.000-06:00

I have not seen much of Forrest this week. He is of course at his job during the day (and some evenings when he has meetings after hours). But this week he is also working on Andrew's floors at night. Andrew & Jen-Yu are in Taiwan, so they asked Forrest to work on refinishing their floors while they are not here to walk on them.

For those of you who do not know, Andrew bought an old two story building and they have their gallery and studio downstairs and they live upstairs. The building was built in 1911 and was originally a drug store with rooms that were rented to bachelors upstairs. It is of course an ongoing restoration project. It is a good thing that Andrew is handy, and of course, Forrest often gets called on to help.

The area that was the drug store still has its original tin ceilings and mosaic tile floors. Upstairs the floors are heart pine and that is what Forrest is working on this week. The floors had been painted in the past so he is sanding all that paint off and then varnishing them. Here are some pictures of the building as it was as a drug store and as it is today as well as some photos of Forrest at work. Just click on the arrow.

We Made a Book!

2008-01-30T10:02:00.001-06:00

Forrest loves Apple computers. He would never have anything else if he could help it. I think he had one of the very first Macintosh models. The iphoto program has a fairly new feature which allows you to create a book right in iphoto, push a button that sends your creation off to Apple, and then they deliver your finished book to you a week or two later. Forrest had to try it. Together we chose the style of the book and the pictures we wanted to include. We dropped the pictures into the template, added captions and sent our book off to Apple to be printed. Our book was just delivered to us. It turned out great! Here are some pictures:

By the Way...

2008-01-28T10:47:00.000-06:00

I posted the video of Rick Burgess speaking at the memorial service for his 2 year old son on the left side of the page. If anyone has not yet seen it, please watch it. It is amazing. It is in 3 parts and they are not in order, so keep that in mind.

Changes

2008-01-28T10:09:00.000-06:00

Those who know us well are aware that we have undergone some major changes in our lives in the last few years. In addition to both of our children getting married, Forrest retired from his long time job with the City of Birmingham and is now the Economic and Community Development Director for the City of Bessemer. On top of that, in the last year we decided to no longer publish the football recruiting publications that we have been doing for so long. Forrest has actually had time to enjoy this football season without football being so much work. It has been 25+ years since we have been able to say that. The "Football Recruiting Annual" was always on news stands in December and most of the sales occurred between then and the first week of February, so some people do not yet know that it is no longer being published. I get calls every day asking "When will the Recruiting Annual be out?" or "I've been looking for weeks and can't find it, where can I get a copy?" Most of the people are very nice and say how much they have enjoyed it over the years, how they still have every copy that has been published for the last 20 years, or how much they are going to miss it. I think Forrest enjoyed doing the magazine, newsletters, radio shows, etc. but it was also a lot of work. We are enjoying a life that is a lot simpler now.

Jekyll Island

2008-01-24T16:59:00.000-06:00

I posted a slideshow of Jekyll Island in the left margin, so I thought I should explain something about that. Three weeks ago Andrew told me that he had to go to Jekyll Island to photograph a golf tournament(Andrew works for a company that does event photography). Since he was going alone, he asked me if I would like to go with him and keep him company. It didn't take long to talk me into it because I have wanted to go to Jekyll Island for a long time and I never have had a chance to go. Anyway, we spent the weekend there and the slideshow is just some of the photos that I made while we were there. As you can see it is beautiful there even in the winter.

About Us

2008-01-24T10:57:00.000-06:00

I guess our first post should start off with something about us. As of tomorrow, we will have been married for 33 years. We were young when we got married, so we are not really all that old. I like to think like that anyway. We have two boys. Andrew, who is 28, has been married to Jen-Yu for a little over a year and a half. Right now they are on their way to Taiwan to visit Jen-Yu's family and attend the Chinese New Year celebrations. Daniel, who is 24, has been married to Magen for almost a year and a half. Yes, in the summer of 2006 we had two weddings which were 7 weeks apart, and we lived through it and are here to tell about it! Daniel and Magen are preparing to be missionaries to France. They will be leaving us and moving to France when they have raised enough support to fund their ministry. If anyone is interested in helping to support their ministry, let us know and we will get you the information you need. We also have a cat whose name is Byron and is a big part of our family. He will soon be having his 12th birthday and he has been with us since he was a baby. He never goes outside and is very spoiled. You can see his picture on the header. That is the basics about our family. We will add more details as time goes on.